PKMN.NET Meet-Up London 26/08/07: Mushroom's Report | So, the PKMN.NET meet, eh. Fun wasn’t it? Oh, you didn’t go? What a silly thing you are. By not going, you’ve gone and given me more work, I’ve now got to fill you in. Originally, I was going to have a really awkward trip, because I would have have to try and come down from Heartfordshire, don’t ask. Luckily, I managed to get home early enough to make my journey a million times easier. What you don’t care about journey? Pfft....

Well, the first member I met up with was Ikke Av Flesk. Not really a big thing because I see him all the time. We then travelled to Hyde Park, and ended up standing around not noticing anyone and waving around my sign. I kept telling him to phone Mike, but he refused to call him, which left us standing around like berks for longer. Eventually, we were found by Dan Dan and Conor. They proceeded to get rather angry at Ikke Av Flesk for criticising the musical stylings of a popular rhythm combo I can’t quite recall the name of.

After a while, we managed to find everyone else. As I was walking over, I somehow mistook Veyka for Rex, but that was a confusion that was cleared up quickly. I exchanged greetings and Manly Dude Hugs with many of the members. I managed to say some stupid things right from the off, like this exchange:

Mushroom: [to Joeno] So, just so I don’t get it wrong, how do I pronounce your name?

Joeno: Yeh-roon

Mushroom: Yoo-no [the way to pronounce Joeno], got it.

And yes, I had been practicing on the way, and no, I didn’t do that on purpose.

I allowed Question Monkey to greet everyone, James took a picture with me to prove we look nothing alike, and then began to reluctantly take on a leadership role and lead the group over to a rather nice shady spot under a rather nice tree. My sign was passed around and ended up getting put up on the top of a very large stick to indicate to anyone not already there where we were. Even if it was the wrong way up.

Thus he Admin talk began. All of them made really great speeches, and I became the first ever member to be promoted in public. Actually, I said something wrong when Joeno asked me, I accidentally said “I agree” at first, then quickly corrected myself and said “I accept”. The moment “I agree” came out of my mouth I thought it sounded arrogant... urgh...

Oh, and when Joeno was talking straight into the camera, asking CS10 to become a global mod, I oddly imagined that he was somehow inside the camera. If you know why my mind works like this, answers on a
postcard please.

This is where the order of the day gets a little fuzzy, because we were all having so much fun. Lord Barnebas’ hat was getting passed around many people. An epic stick fight was fought between Rex, Conor and Ikke av Flesk. Psychoshark turned up. Question Monkey rode a cow. And at some point we come to James’ favorite part of the day. When Lottie and I went to get drinks for all the Admins.

This is how it actually panned out. Lottie and I were going to go and get some drinks, then we asked if anyone wanted us to get any drinks for them. The admins took this as meaning just them, so that’s how the admin drink list came about. We borrowed a piece of paper from Kit’s notebook where she was collecting autographs, and wrote down the orders on there. We got everyone’s orders, but unfortunately couldn’t get Rex’s order of Coke, Coke, Coke, Coke, Coke and Sprite.

Lottie and I then skipped off (literally) to get our own drinks, and I hear there was talk of what we were doing when we were gone. I can now exclusively reveal that we weren’t just buying drinks...

...we bought Ice Cream too!

When we got back, the fun continued. Photos were taken, Videos were filmed. Mystery Gift items were exchanged and conversations were conversed. Also, Rex bagan to lay on the charm with Lottie’s friend Katie, much to her chagrin. As we decided to move on, Some people including Rex and Claire went to an Manga store. The rest of us decided to travel to Leicester Square. Don’t worry, we met up with them there.

At Leicester Square, many people got some sort of food and we all sat in a circle on an oddly empty patch of grass. A man came along who tried to sell flowers to many of us. He tried to get me to buy a rose for Lottie, just because she was using me as a chair. When he tried to sell a flower to Rex, he was greeted by a long winded and very funny explanation of why he couldn’t buy Katie a rose. It involved one part, which I am extremely likely to be paraphrasing, which went sort of like this “Katie is my girlfriend in waiting, if my current girlfriend dies, or fails in her duties, then Katie gets to take over”. I loved that bit.

We took a massive group picture with the Charlie Chaplin Statue, and yes, Charlie Chaplin is now an honorary member of PKMN.NET. Unfortunately, this was the point at which I had to part with the group. Ikke Av Flesk, Lottie, Conor, Katie and I then began our trip back from a day I hope never to forget.